


Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge

by worryless2020



Series: MCR Album Fanfics [2]
Category: My Chemical Romance, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge - My Chemical Romance (Album)
Genre: Gen, some strong language, some violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:01:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22190752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/worryless2020/pseuds/worryless2020
Summary: This is a work of fiction inspired by the themes, song titles, lyrics and cover art from the album 'Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge' by My Chemical Romance. I claim no credit for the creative work of My Chemical Romance which provided the inspiration for this piece.
Series: MCR Album Fanfics [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1595179
Kudos: 2





	Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge

THREE CHEERS FOR SWEET REVENGE

1\. Helena (So Long & Goodnight) . 2. Give ‘Em Hell, Kid . 3. To The End . 4. You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison . 5. I’m Not Okay (I Promise) . 6. The Ghost Of You . 7. The Jetset Life Is Gonna Kill You . 8. Interlude . 9. Thank You For The Venom . 10. Hang ‘Em High . 11. It’s Not A Fashion Statement, It’s A Deathwish . 12. Cemetery Drive . 13. I Never Told You What I Do For A Living

The house stood easily twice as tall as any average one, and its front was practically a perfect square. The plain, dark grey walls were in a state of disrepair, with chunks missing in places and large cracks extending from the sides to the middle. The odd tile was missing from the slanting roof, and an upper window on the left hand side was badly broken. The front door had been painted a dark blue – almost navy – clearly decades ago, as the paint was chipped and peeling. The door was five to six feet wide and nine to ten feet high, and that wasn’t including the fanlight above it. Two steps of crumbling concrete led up to it, and mounted on its centre was a rusty knocker.  
“I think it’s probably safe to say that the couple Dracula referred to cleared off with the rest of the town,” said Ray.  
“Should we go in?” asked Mikey.  
“What else can we do?” replied Gerard. “Head back down through the forest to the town? Don’t think so. Whether or not there’s anyone here, there still might be a bed for us for the night.”  
“Agreed,” said Frank, leading the way to the front door.  
“God, it’s creepy,” said Mikey.  
Frank turned.  
“Should we knock?”  
Without waiting for an answer he tried the doorknob.  
“Locked.”  
“Of course,” said Ray. “Like everywhere else in this fucking town.”  
Frank knocked five or six times using the knocker.  
“Let’s face it, guys, there’s no one in there. You’d have to be mad to stay living here when there’s a vampire living in the nearest town,” Mikey said.  
“Then let’s break in. We have nowhere else to go,” Gerard replied. “It’s already practically a ruin. If it does still belong to anyone, they – ”  
A loud click came from the other side of the door. The four men looked to each other, unsure whether to be hopeful or petrified. By the looks on their faces, fear seemed to predominate.  
The doorknob turned slowly and the door opened by little more than a crack. A woman’s face appeared tentatively around the corner. She was almost as pale as the vampire, and had striking, pretty dark eyes.  
The band members stared at her for a moment, dumbstruck. Slowly she began to open the door a little wider.  
“Hi,” Gerard said eventually, stepping up onto the top step beside Frank. “I’m Gerard.” He smiled. “These are my buddies – and my brother – ” He pointed at Mikey, who waved nervously. “Frank, Ray and Mikey.” He paused, trying to decide where to begin. “Well… Long story short, we could really do with a place to stay for the night, if you could afford the space.”  
Without uttering a word, the woman opened the door fully and ushered them all inside, albeit a little hesitantly.  
For a while they all just stood in the hallway, examining each other. The woman had jet black hair, scooped back off her face into a small neat bun at the back of her head. She had slight eyebrows but her eyes were indeed impressive. They were large and brownish green, and were framed by lashes longer than any Gerard, Mikey, Frank or Ray had ever seen. Her nose was small and dainty, and she had a mouth to match, with lips a healthy pink, a stark contrast to her snow white face.  
Most peculiar of all was her dress. It was long and white, like a wedding gown, but it looked old and tattered, and was frayed at the hem and the cuffs. Like a polo neck, it rose halfway up her slender neck and ended in delicate lace. And all down her front it was covered in what looked like blood spatters.  
The band eyed them worriedly.  
“I’m Helena,” she said in a soft, sing-song voice. “Please. Come in.”  
She brought them through a dimly-lit hallway. The floor was covered with a threadbare red carpet and the walls were lined with faded framed photographs.  
They followed her when she took a left turn off the hall into a grand but old-looking living room.  
“Please. Have a seat.”  
They looked around them awkwardly for a moment, before Gerard, Mikey and Frank settled onto a sofa, and Ray into a roomy armchair next to them.  
“Thank you,” Frank said.  
Helena responded with a shy smile.  
“Would you like some tea?” she asked.  
The possibility crossed everyone’s mind that she might be a vampire whose tea would be designed to poison them.  
“That would be lovely, thank you,” Ray answered.  
Saying yes didn’t mean they had to drink it, but on the other hand they were four men – none of them practicing runners – who had just run the best part of five miles, and that at a faster pace than they had ever run in their lives. They were parched.  
Helena left the room.  
“Well this is… different,” said Ray.  
“This is fucking messed up, man,” replied Mikey.  
“Ssh, she might hear you!” whispered Frank.  
“So do we think she’s a vampire too?” Ray asked.  
“We all saw the blood on her dress, right?” said Gerard.  
The others fell silent.  
“But,” said Frank suddenly, “compare her manner to the other guy’s. She’s quiet, okay, but she seems… nice.”  
“I don’t know if that means anything though,” replied Mikey.  
“Because we have nowhere else to go,” said Ray, “I think we should give her the benefit of the doubt but just… be careful.”  
“Yeah, okay, fair enough,” replied Gerard.  
Then they heard a quiet tinkling sound, like crockery trembling in a mild earthquake.  
Helena entered the room carrying a tray with a teapot and five china cups and saucers on it. She couldn’t seem to hold it completely still. Whether this was because it was heavy, or because she was anxious or afraid, was unclear.  
She set it down on a coffee table in the middle of the room, and then reached for the handle of the teapot.  
“Oh!” she said suddenly, and pulled her hand away again. “I forgot milk and sugar.”  
She left again.  
“Should we help ourselves?” Frank asked.  
“Would that be rude? But then… we don’t want it to look like we’re just waiting for her to serve us, like a waitress,” said Ray.  
“We’re overthinking this,” said Mikey, and he stood up and reached for the teapot.  
He had begun filling a fourth cup when Helena returned. She placed a small jug of milk and a bowl of sugar with a teaspoon in it on the tray.  
“Shall I pour you a cup?” Mikey asked.  
“Oh,” she said, smiling. She seemed surprised. “Gentleman! Yes, thank you.”  
“You’re welcome.”  
“So,” Gerard said, sitting back with his cup of tea, “how long have you lived here?”  
His tone was gentle and kind. Helena struck him as fragile, as something of a victim, in one sense or another.  
“Since I got married,” she replied. “Thirty-two years ago.”  
“Wow,” said Frank.  
She was older than them, clearly, but none of them thought she looked old enough to have been married thirty-two years.  
“And your husband… Is he here?” Ray asked.  
Helena winced, almost imperceptibly.  
“No, he… Anton died a terrible death.”  
“Oh, I… We’re very sorry to hear that.”  
“Thank you. Yes, I…” Tears sprang up in Helena’s eyes. She cleared her throat. “Sorry, I…” She pulled a tissue from inside her sleeve and dabbed at her eyes with it. “It was years ago but I still miss him terribly.”  
“Of course,” said Frank.  
“You’re kind,” Helena said. “I must warn you… You will stay the night, won’t you?”  
“Yes, yes,” replied Gerard, “if you’ll have us.”  
“Of course. But I warn you, you may hear me crying in the night. I do most nights, for Anton. And sounds, they… Sounds echo so terribly around this house. Please, pay no heed if you do. I hope it won’t disturb your sleep.”  
Nobody knew what to say.  
“Sorry. So, um… what has brought you here? I haven’t had as many as four visitors in all the time since Anton died, never mind at the same time.”  
“Well, we… We’re in a band,” Gerard explained. “And we had heard that Monroeville was this spooky but inspiring town that might help us generate some ideas for our next album. But then… Then we met a vampire. In the church.” Gerard’s expression told Helena that he wasn’t particularly expecting her to believe him. “He chased us through the woods,” he continued. “We lost him somewhere along the way but then… Well, then we ended up here with nowhere else to go.”  
“Oh,” said Helena, her eyes downcast. “Oh, well yes. Yes, I’ve heard there are vampires around here.”  
“Vampires?!” exclaimed Mikey. “As in, more than one?”  
Helena looked surprised.  
“Well… I don’t know for sure but… I think if an area has one vampire there are likely to be more. They congregate. There are only a small number of places on earth that are home to vampires. Monroeville and its environs is one of them. Outside those places, you won’t find any. But in those places, there are usually communities of them.”  
“So… the presence of vampires. Is that the reason Monroeville is deserted?” asked Ray.  
“Most likely. The people here were superstitious, in general. It was just rumours at first. That we had vampires, I mean. But that was enough to make people start leaving. They weren’t taking any chances. The town had a tiny population to begin with so you can imagine… It didn’t take long. Then… when the rumours turned out to be true… You know. You’ve seen the town.”  
“Yes.”  
“So people did actually see the vampire? Or vampires,” said Gerard.  
“Oh yes. People had encounters, lucky escapes… just like you’ve had tonight.”  
“Any not-so-lucky escapes?” Mikey asked.  
Helena cleared her throat and shifted slightly in her seat.  
“Yes, one or two.”  
“Oh man!”  
“Have you ever seen a vampire?” asked Frank.  
Helena was looking straight down into her teacup, and didn’t look up.  
“I… No.”  
She looked up then. She seemed still to have tears threatening to spill out of her eyes.  
“Have you finished your tea?” she asked suddenly. “You must be tired. I can show you to your rooms.”  
They all had at least two mouthfuls of tea left, but understood that she was telling them it was bedtime, whether they liked it or not.  
Helena stood up, and the others placed their cups back onto the tray.  
“Oh!” Helena said, spotting Gerard’s feet. “You’re missing a shoe.”  
“Oh yeah,” he replied, looking down at his filthy sock. “My foot got caught when we were running, I had to leave the shoe behind to get free.”  
“That foot must be freezing. I’ll get you a pair of Anton’s shoes to wear.”  
“Oh, thank you so much.”  
“No problem at all. Wait here and I’ll just leave the tea things in the kitchen. Then I’ll take you all upstairs.”  
She left, and returned presently.  
“Please follow me,” she said.  
It was quite a long and steep climb up the stairs. All their legs still felt like jelly. When they reached the top Helena again told them to wait while she went and fetched a pair of shoes for Gerard.  
She returned with a large pair of brown leather boots. She looked again at Gerard’s feet.  
“Hm, they might be a little big but they are boots so they shouldn’t slip off.”  
Gerard took them from her gratefully.  
“Not at all, they’re fine. Thank you again, you’re too kind.”  
“Not at all. Please follow me,” she said again, as she led the way down a corridor very similar to the one downstairs.  
She brought the band to two bedrooms side by side. Both had windows with a view from the back of the house.  
They peered inside.  
“I’m sorry. They’re only double beds. I can give you a room each if you’d like but the others are way around the other side of the house and the draught there would be terrible, thanks to that broken window you probably saw on your way in.”  
“We’re fine to share. Thank you, you’re really helping us out,” said Mikey.  
“My pleasure. It’s nice to have a bit of company.”  
Her four guests smiled at her.  
“Okay, well… I’ll leave you to get your beauty sleep. I do hope you sleep well, I’m sure you need it. And really, take no notice of it if you hear me crying in the night.”  
“We hope for your own sake that we won’t,” said Frank. “Sincere thanks for the beds.”  
Helena smiled sadly.  
“Goodnight,” she said.  
“Goodnight.”  
She turned and left them.  
Gerard and Mikey claimed one room, and Frank and Ray the other. They were virtually identical: sparsely furnished, spacious, and rather dusty.  
“Night guys,” said Ray.  
A jumble of voices followed, all saying, “Night.”  
They went their separate ways.  
Mikey closed the bedroom door behind him while Gerard kicked off his remaining trainer and planted Anton’s pair of boots down in a corner of the room.  
Then Mikey spotted something on the wall behind the door.  
“Whoa, check this out.”  
Gerard turned. He and Mikey were looking at a wooden stake mounted on the wall.  
“In case of a vampire attack,” Gerard surmised. “That’s the only way you can kill ‘em, right? Stake their heart?”  
“Supposedly.”  
Gerard wandered over to the window. He still walked with a slight limp.  
It was a perfectly clear and still night. The moon was bright. Looking out the window, Gerard discerned that the mansion was situated in quite a clearing. The nearest tree, marking the entrance to the forest, was possibly one hundred yards from the back of the house. Then Gerard noticed something else, something much closer to the house.  
“Mikey, look.”  
Mikey joined him at the window.  
“I wonder if it’s Anton’s,” Gerard said, as they gazed down at a gravestone.  
“Probably.”  
“Strange of her to bury him here and not in a cemetery.”  
“Haven’t you noticed? She is strange.”  
“Maybe. She’s sweet though, I like her. And I no longer think she’s a vampire.”  
“Mm, I wouldn’t be letting my guard down though. Until we’re out of this place altogether, we can’t afford to take our safety for granted,” Mikey said as he walked away from the window and towards the bed.  
He kicked off his shoes, and lowered and stepped out of his jeans, but left his socks, boxers and t-shirt on.  
“Yeah, I know,” replied Gerard, closing the thin curtains before he, too, stepped away from the window.  
Mikey pulled back the light duvet and climbed in under it. Gerard followed suit after he had taken off his jeans.  
“Oh my God,” he sighed as he lay down. “I don’t think bed has ever felt so good.”  
Mikey just laughed quietly.  
“Night man.”  
“Night.”  
Gerard was asleep in less than two minutes. Sixty minutes later, Mikey was still lying awake. Every crack of old planks of wood, every clunk of the many pipes running through the house, made him jump. Perhaps Helena was not a vampire, perhaps she was. But even if she wasn’t, she could be a ghost.  
Yes, Mikey reminded himself, I don’t believe in ghosts. But I didn’t believe in vampires either until earlier today.  
If she wasn’t a ghost, she was still a strange old widow who couldn’t seem to let go of the past. Under the circumstances, that was enough to scare Mikey. How had her husband died anyway? He had “died a terrible death”, according to Helena. What did that mean? That vampires were responsible? Was he the vampire who had chased them?  
A constant stream of such questions and speculations prevented Mikey from sleeping, and kept him looking over his shoulder, even as he lay in bed, willing sleep to come.  
Suddenly he heard Gerard mumble something incoherent.  
“What?”  
Gerard’s response was only more indiscernible mumbling. It was then that Mikey noticed he was still asleep. He sighed.  
The whispered mumbles gradually turned into speech at a normal volume, but it was still impossible to identify any words. Gerard’s tone, however, went from neutral to urgent and from urgent to panicked in two minutes or less. He was starting to squirm.  
“Gerard,” said Mikey, gently shaking his shoulder.  
Gerard’s eyes remained closed. He was getting louder and louder, still incoherent, and the movement of his neck and limbs was becoming more pronounced.  
“Gerard,” Mikey said more loudly, and shook his brother again, less gently this time. “Wake up! Gerard!”  
Despite Mikey’s continued efforts, Gerard remained asleep, and his mumbled speech was quickly escalating towards screaming.  
In the other room, having both fallen asleep quickly, Frank and Ray continued to sleep soundly. That is, until Ray was awoken by a strange sound.  
His eyes opened, consciousness assailed him and he instantly pricked up his ears.  
The noise he heard was like someone sighing heavily. More specifically, it was like a woman sighing heavily. He sat up. After listening to it for a few moments, he began to wonder whether it wasn’t in fact more like melancholic singing. It was getting louder.  
When Frank woke up the first thing he noticed was that Ray was sitting up. Then he heard the song-like moaning and sat up too.  
“What the fuck is that?”  
“Ssh!”  
Moaning quickly turned to wailing. It made Frank think of the chief mourner at a funeral. It continued to get louder.  
“Helena!” he whispered to Ray. “She warned us about hearing her cry.”  
“That’s not crying, that’s… fucked up. Plus, listen.”  
They sat quiet for a few moments. The wailing got louder and louder for a time but then started to fade like the source of the sound was moving further away from them.  
“She’s not in her room, she’s walking around the fucking house.”  
Suddenly, for a couple of seconds, the squalls they had attributed to Helena were drowned out by the sound of a man screaming. Frank and Ray looked at each other.  
“Is it just me or…?” Ray began.  
“Gerard!”  
Frank leapt out of the bed and ran to the door with Ray following. As they threw open the door of Gerard and Mikey’s room, a bat flew in over their heads.  
“Oh my God,” said Ray, watching with fear as the bat flew across the room towards the window.  
Mikey turned from Gerard for a moment to watch the bat too, and the feeling that he must wake his brother intensified.  
Frank and Ray’s gaze quickly turned from the bat to Gerard, who lay screaming and writhing on the bed, but was still clearly asleep.  
“Gerard, come on, you have to wake up! Gerard!” cried Mikey urgently.  
Frank knelt down on the bed across from Mikey, staring worriedly at Gerard.  
“Gerard!” he yelled suddenly, and slapped him gently a few times on the cheek.  
The vampire took human form. It was the same one they had met in the church.  
“What the fuck is that?” Mikey asked, as he heard Helena’s wailing for the first time.  
It seemed to be coming from the end of the hallway outside, but was slowly getting closer and closer to the room.  
“We think it’s Helena,” answered Frank, watching as the vampire walked slowly towards them, smiling grotesquely and baring his fangs.  
Gerard’s sleep terror continued. Helena’s howling continued. And Mikey looked discreetly back and forth from Frank to the wooden stake on the wall behind him.  
Ray stood frozen to the spot, apparently engaged in a staring contest with the vampire.  
Frank read Mikey’s cue and looked behind him. He saw the stake, then looked back at Mikey and nodded.  
Mikey turned to ensure that the vampire was still staring at Ray. He was. Both Mikey and Frank were painfully aware that he could run at Ray at any moment. Then Mikey turned back to face Frank. Keeping his hand strategically in front of his torso and thus hidden from the vampire’s view, he used it to communicate with Frank. He pointed a finger at him, then at the vampire, and nodded once. Then, he pointed at himself, then quickly at the stake on the wall. Frank understood him, and got up to stand beside Ray.  
The vampire moved slowly towards them, and they inched backwards towards the door.  
“You’ve nowhere to run now,” he snarled.  
In one swift movement, Mikey jumped from the bed and made a grab for the stake. Instantly the vampire turned his attention from Frank and Ray, and lunged at Mikey.  
Gerard then woke up with a gasp, and sat up, his heart pounding. It took him a moment to register the events that were unfolding before his eyes. Then he heard Helena’s crying and looked towards the open door.  
Frank and Ray grabbed the vampire by a shoulder each from behind, and pulled him to the ground. He kicked and squirmed violently. Ray and Frank put all their strength into holding him down.  
Mikey stood holding the stake, breathing heavily.  
“Stake him, Mikey!” Ray shouted.  
“Don’t think, just do it!” said Frank.  
Mikey dropped to his knees and straddled the vampire, who roared, allowing Mikey to see his fangs up close for the first time. Mikey raised the stake over his head, and brought it down quickly and forcefully, ramming it straight into the vampire’s heart.  
Gerard was up on his knees on the bed, watching every terrifying moment of the spectacle.  
The vampire shrieked deafeningly. Blood sprayed and oozed from him.  
Mikey, Ray and Frank sat back from his expiring body, exhausted. They looked up at Gerard, relieved to see him conscious, and then they noticed Helena, standing silent in the doorway.  
Tears were streaming down her cheeks.  
“Anton,” she whispered, staring at the vampire.  
“That’s not…?” Ray said.  
Helena looked at him.  
“No, no,” she replied, snivelling. “But that is how he died. By my hand.” She sobbed.  
Mikey, Frank, Ray and Gerard stared at her, their eyes like saucers.  
“A vampire bit and infected him,” she continued. “He had become one himself so… So I had no choice.”  
She looked at Mikey, who was covered in blood, and then at the bloodstained stake that lay beside him.  
“I sat astride him, just like you did,” she said. “I wasn’t his wife anymore. I was just a vessel for the blood he thirsted for. So I raised the stake and looked into his eyes. ‘So long,’ I said, ‘and goodnight.’”


End file.
